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The Times, Thursday, Jan 28, 1937
Four Persons Shot Dead
Father's Discovery On Farm
A Man's Dismissal
From our special correspondent
Worsthorne, Lancs, Jan 27

Four persons, including a girl 18 years of age, were found shot dead this morning at a farm on the moors near this Pennine village on the borders of Lancashire and Yorkshire, and about three miles from Burnley. The dead are:-
Jane Ellen Wilkinson, daughter of Mr. Foulds Wilkinson, of Sackvill Green Farm; her grandfather, William Pickup, 73, who lived and worked on the farm; Joseph Scriven, 30, of Heap Street, Worsthorne, a cowman employed on the farm; and John James Blackburn, 20, also of Heap Street, formerly employed on the farm. Blackburn was found lying dead with a double-barrelled shot gun in his right hand and a bloodstained note, stated to be in his handwriting, was discovered.
Found in Farmyard
The affair was discovered soon after 9 o'clock this morning when a paperhanger saw the bodies of the girl and her grandfather lying in the farmyard. While this man, a stranger to the village, had gone off to report what he had seen, Mr. Foulds Wilkinson, the farmer, retuned from his milk round at Burnley. He saw the bodies of his daughter and his father-in-law and, believing that the murderer might still be alive and in the farm, drove back to Burnley to report to the borough police.
The county police took over the investigation, and in a shippon found the body of Scrivin, shot through the head, and in the kitchen of the farmhouse found Blackburn lying dead with a gun in his hand. He also had been shot. On the window-sill in the kitchen there was a pencil and a note, which was handed to the coroner's officer. The handwriting was recognized as Blackburn's, and it was stated that the note expressed Blackburn's sense of grievance against Mr. Foulds Wilkinson at having been dismissed from his employment on the farm.

_________________
Mel

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The Times, Saturday, Jan 30, 1937
Four People Dead On Moorland Farm
Murder And Felo De Se

An inquest was held at Padiham, Lancs yesterday, on the bodies of the four persons, including a girl of 18, who were found shot dead at a farm on the moors near the Pennine village of Worsthorne, about three miles from Burnley. The victims were:-
Jane Ellen Wilkinson, daughter of Mr. Foulds Wilkinson, of Sackville Green Farm; her grandfather, William Pickup, 73, who lived and worked on the farm; Joseph Scrivin, 30, of Heap Street, Worsthorne, a cowman employed on the farm; and John James Blackburn, 20, also of Heap Street, and formerly employed on the farm.
The jury found that Pickup, Scrivin, and Miss Wilkinson were murdered by Blackburn, who committed felo de se.
Foulds Wilkinson, farmer, of Sackville Green Farm, said that about seven weeks ago Blackburn came to work at the farm as a cowman, but he was discharged three weeks ago for coming late and because he was impudent. At about 8:30 on Wednesday morning, continued Wilkinson, he left the farm on his milk round. On returning about 9:30 and going into the yard he saw his father-in-law lying in the yard. About five yards away was his daughter lying dead. In the Shippon he found Scrivin dead on the floor, and in the kitchen was Blackburn, lying dead on the floor, with a gun in his right hand.
Sarah Ann Blackburn identified a note left on the window sill at the farm as being in her sons handwriting. The note read:-"Well, Foulds, I thought this would punish you more than anything else. I am not crazy, but just getting my own back. I leave you to look after my brother." Mrs. Blackburn added that her son had been unemployed for about three weeks after being discharged from the farm. On the night he came home after he was dismissed he said he was "Fed up." He put his head in his hands and was silent, and seemed to be in the sulks. He had been like that at home and had been miserable. He did not bear any grudge about anything which had happened at the farm. "He was,W she said, "a bit underneath and deceitful."
The Coroner said that Blackburn was known to have purchased the gun two days after he left his employment. Apparently he had been a cool customer, because it was a fair inference to say he had written the note in the yard and placed it on the window. He must have been very cool, because he actually anticipated the possibility of the wind blowing it away. To load it down he put a box of matches on top of it. He then leaned over the barrel of the gun and touched off the trigger. Referring to the mentality of Blackburn, the Coroner said that the note meant that he deliberately purchased the gun and went to the farm to punish this man by killing everybody at the farm.

_________________
Mel

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